Search Results | VOCEDplus, the international tertiary education and research database

Higher education earnings premium: value, variation, and trends

Overall, people with a college education do better in the labour market than people with no education beyond high s... Show more
Overall, people with a college education do better in the labour market than people with no education beyond high school. Higher levels of education correspond, on average, to higher levels of employment and higher wages. Yet, as college prices rise and as examples of graduates struggling to find remunerative employment despite their credentials become more visible, both potential students and the general public are questioning the value of a college education. This brief highlights some of the complexities underlying discussions of the return to the investment in postsecondary education and describes some of the variation in outcomes that leads to the prevalent uncertainty about the value of the investment, clarifying that disappointing outcomes for some are not inconsistent with a high average payoff and significant benefits for most students.
Excerpts from publication. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy

Date: 2014

Geographic subjects: United States; North America

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Higher education; Outcomes; Employment ... [+] Show more
Education pays 2004: the benefits of higher education for individuals and society

This report examines the benefits to individuals and to society from our investment in higher education. It also do... Show more
This report examines the benefits to individuals and to society from our investment in higher education. It also documents the uneven participation rates in higher education across different segments of US society.
Excerpt from publication. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Payea, Kathleen

Date: 2004

Geographic subjects: United States; North America

Resource type: Statistical series

Series name: Trends in higher education series

Subjects: Higher education; Participation; Employment ... [+] Show more
Trends in student aid: 2011

The role of financial aid in helping students to enroll and succeed in college becomes increasingly important as co... Show more
The role of financial aid in helping students to enroll and succeed in college becomes increasingly important as college prices continue to rise more rapidly than family incomes. This report provides detailed data on student aid of all types (grants, loans, work-study and tax benefits) from all sources (federal and state governments, colleges and universities, employers and other private entities). This report documents the growth in grant aid and education tax benefits through 2010-11, student debt patterns, and other trends in the funds available to help students pay for postsecondary education.
Excerpt from website. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Payea, Kathleen

Date: 2011

Geographic subjects: North America; United States

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Students; Higher education; Finance ... [+] Show more
Fulfilling the commitment: recommendations for reforming federal student aid

In this report, the Rethinking Student Aid study group, brought together by the College Board with the support of L... Show more
In this report, the Rethinking Student Aid study group, brought together by the College Board with the support of Lumina Foundation for Education, the Spencer Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop ideas for improving the federal student aid system, presents its recommendations. We hope these proposals will generate a new and open conversation about federal approaches to increasing postsecondary education opportunities. In the report that follows, we discuss the motivation for our efforts, the goals and principles on which we believe student aid policy should rest, and the details of our proposals for making federal student aid more effective. Our longterm interest is in modifying federal policies in ways that are consistent with the vision articulated in this report. Our immediate goal is to engage the higher education policy community in a frank and creative dialogue about how best to help students who face financial barriers to access and success in postsecondary education. Our report represents the best judgment of the study group members. The policy experts, academic researchers, and higher education professionals in the group spent two years studying and discussing the current system and ways to make it more effective for students. We believe the policies described in this report would expand educational opportunities and increase both the equity and the efficiency of the federal investment in higher education.
Excerpt from publication. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; McPherson, Michael

Date: 2008

Geographic subjects: North America; United States

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Participation; Policy; Higher education ... [+] Show more
Who borrows most?: bachelor's degree recipients with high levels of student debt

Many discussions of student loan debt are clouded by a failure to distinguish between typical students and the grow... Show more
Many discussions of student loan debt are clouded by a failure to distinguish between typical students and the growing minority who borrow amounts and types of loans that are likely to cause them repayment difficulties. This policy brief focuses on the 17 per cent of 2007-08 bachelor's degree recipients who graduated with more than $30,500 in education debt. The report examines characteristics of undergraduate students whose debt levels are greatest. The problem is not that all students are borrowing too much but that some groups of borrowers may be at risk of serious financial difficulty. Many young people have a limited understanding of the effects of the obligations they are undertaking and cannot accurately predict future earnings.
Excerpts from publication and media release. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Steele, Patricia

Date: 2010

Geographic subjects: North America; United States

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Series name: Trends in higher education series

Subjects: Finance; Students; Higher education ... [+] Show more
Exploring the importance of low wage, high social value careers

Many college graduates who earn less than their peers are employed in occupations that bring significant benefits t... Show more
Many college graduates who earn less than their peers are employed in occupations that bring significant benefits to society, as well as high levels of personal satisfaction. Examples include almost all forms of teaching, such as early childhood education; counseling; and social work. It is not easy - nor is there agreement on how - to precisely define the social value of these occupations or to measure the magnitude and distribution of their benefits - but understanding this issue is critical to considering the payoff to higher education. Variation in earnings among adults with the same level of education results from a wide range of factors including differences in personal characteristics, geography, and work experience. But there are some occupations for which postsecondary education is required in which workers systematically earn substantially less than others with the same level of education and similar personal characteristics. Many of these occupations have high social value.
This paper explores these low wage, high social value occupations in the context of defining and measuring postsecondary value. It begins by outlining variations in wages for occupations that require similar levels of education and then discusses the relationship between college major, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and occupation choice, as well as the importance of examining the total compensation associated with these occupations. The paper concludes with recommendations for how to measure the value of these low-wage, high social value careers as well as how to incorporate the value of these careers into the Postsecondary Value Framework.
Excerpt from publication. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Espinosa, Lorelle

Date: 2021

Geographic subjects: United States; North America

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Employment; Income; Outcomes ... [+] Show more
How much debt is too much?: defining benchmarks for manageable student debt

Many discussions of student loan repayment focus on those students for whom repayment is a problem and conclude tha... Show more
Many discussions of student loan repayment focus on those students for whom repayment is a problem and conclude that the reliance on debt to finance postsecondary education is excessive. However, from both a pragmatic perspective and a logical perspective, a more appropriate approach is to develop different benchmarks for students in different circumstances in order to differentiate between those students whose repayment requirements are excessive and those for whom debt burdens are manageable. The purpose of this report is to establish a range of empirically derived thresholds for manageable student debt in order to (a) provide good advice to students as they make decisions about financing their postsecondary education, and (b) inform the design of loan forgiveness and debt management programs intended to relieve excessive debt burdens.
Excerpt from website. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Schwartz, Saul

Date: 2006

Geographic subjects: North America; United States; Canada

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Students; Higher education; Finance ... [+] Show more
Financing public higher education: variation across states

In this report, [the authors] examine patterns of public college pricing, funding, and enrollment across the [Unite... Show more
In this report, [the authors] examine patterns of public college pricing, funding, and enrollment across the [United States], as well as instructional expenditures and student grant aid. Because most students remain in their home states to take advantage of lower tuition, a clear view of cross-state variation is vital for understanding the nature and extent of barriers to college affordability and for developing policies to address those barriers.
Abstract from publisher's website. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Johnson, Martha

Date: 2015

Geographic subjects: United States; North America

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Finance; Higher education; Teaching and learning ... [+] Show more
Strengthening federal student aid: an assessment of proposals for reforming federal student loan repayment and federal education tax benefits

Reviewing proposals for improving the complex array of federal student aid programs, [the authors] find agreement o... Show more
Reviewing proposals for improving the complex array of federal student aid programs, [the authors] find agreement on some broad policy directions but considerable differences of opinion about the details. Many advocates support automatically placing student borrowers into income-driven repayment plans, which set payments at some percentage of discretionary income. And virtually no one argues against consolidating tuition tax credits and deductions into one credit. This comprehensive report examines over 20 proposals for reforming student loan repayment and education tax credits and deductions, evaluating the equity and efficiency of proposed provisions and providing recommendations for strengthening these components of federal student aid.
Abstract from publisher's website. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Johnson, Martha

Date: 2016

Geographic subjects: North America; United States

Resource type: Report, paper or authored book

Subjects: Finance; Policy; Evaluation ... [+] Show more
Education pays 2007: the benefits of higher education for individuals and society

Students who attend institutions of higher education obtain a wide range of personal, financial, and other lifelong... Show more
Students who attend institutions of higher education obtain a wide range of personal, financial, and other lifelong benefits; likewise, taxpayers and society as a whole derive a multitude of direct and indirect benefits when citizens have access to postsecondary education. Accordingly, uneven rates of participation in higher education across different segments of US society should be a matter of urgent interest not only to the individuals directly affected, but also to public policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels. This report presents detailed evidence of the private and public benefits of higher education. It also sheds light on the distribution of these benefits by examining both the progress and the persistent disparities in participation in postsecondary education. The benefits of higher education for individuals and for society as a whole are both monetary and nonmonetary.
Excerpt from publication. Show less

Authors: Baum, Sandy; Ma, Jennifer

Date: 2007

Geographic subjects: North America; United States

Resource type: Statistical series

Series name: Trends in higher education series

Subjects: Participation; Qualifications; Employment ... [+] Show more